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‘It’s not your fault,’ Jem said, biting back the observation that, if Toby had not wanted to be seen, he should not have been in a public place. ‘What happens now? With his inheritance, I mean?’
‘He has no inheritance. Only what remains of the little his father left, plus an allowance from his grandfather, which Crenshaw is unlikely to continue once he succeeds. The property is entailed. He’ll get a pittance at most. It’s all gone.’
There was so much pain in his voice. Jem ached for him aching for Toby, even while he tried to push down a rebellious thought that this mourning for lost expectations far exceeded any sympathy Nicky or Toby tended to show for people who’d never had anything to begin with. Nicky didn’t need an argument now. He looked wretched beyond belief.
Jem lowered himself all the way to the floor, so they sat shoulder to shoulder. ‘Is it just that?’
‘Isn’t that enough?’
‘Well, you look awfully upset. Is that all about Toby’s problems?’ Something belatedly occurred to him. ‘Was he unkind to you?’
A half shrug was all the answer. Jem glared at the floor. ‘That’s not right, Nicky. I’m sorry he’s disappointed?—’
‘He’s more than disappointed, he’s ruined.’
‘Nonsense,’ Jem snapped. ‘He’s got more than most of us start with. He’s got a perfectly good brain when he chooses to use it, and he will have a degree from Oxford?—’
‘Will he? You must have noticed he hasn’t precisely been applying himself,’ Nicky said. ‘And yes, even if he crawls out with a poor Third, he has the family connections to find a place, but for Christ’s sake, he never expected to have to drudge for a living. He thought he was going to be amarquessand he’s had it snatched away.’
‘We all have hopes,’ Jem said. ‘I understand this is a bitter disappointment, but it isn’t a tragedy.’
‘He’s got debts.’
‘What?’
‘Debts. He lives well, he’s been living on the expectation. Oh, come, Jem, you know how generous he is. How much of his champagne have you drunk? How often has he taken us out, that trip to Boar’s Hill? Didn’t he settle your buttery bill in the second year?’
‘I never asked him to.’
‘You didn’t have to. But those debts are in his name, and quite a few more. He likes to play, you know. Horses.’
Jem did know that. Toby and Hugo had gone to Ascot together, returning flushed and laughing about their misfortunes on the turf. ‘Does he owe a lot?’
Nicky propped his elbow on a knee in order to support his head with one long-fingered hand. ‘Enough that this won’t be a pleasant conversation with his grandfather. The old man’s already in a towering rage about his new heir. Toby will have to resign from the Bullingdon.’
Jem wasn’t listening. Nicky’s cuff had fallen back a little with the movement of his arm, and Jem could see marks on his wrist, red and darkening. Nicky’s pale skin bruised so easily, as Jem knew from watching him fence, and from the occasional scuffles he had with Toby or Hugo. ‘Did Toby do that?’
‘It’s nothing.’ Nicky shifted to pull up his cuff.
Jem grabbed his arm. ‘It’s not nothing. Those are finger marks. I don’t care how disappointed he is, he isn’t entitled to maul you!’
‘I was trying to haul him out of the buttery. Don’t make a fuss.’
‘You don’t have to defend everything he does.’
‘Do you haveany ideawhat a disappointment this is for him?’ Nicky demanded. ‘He’s just had his entire life pulled out from underneath him!’
‘No, I don’t know,’ Jem said. ‘Nobody ever offered me untold wealth, so I don’t know how it feels to have it snatched away. But you said that the inheritance wasn’t a sure thing. He relied on it coming off and it hasn’t. That’s not your fault.’
‘He didn’t want to?—’
‘He didn’t want to face facts,’ Jem said savagely, unsure where his anger had come from, but filled with its bright flame. ‘His uncle’s got every right to marry, and I’m very sorry, but if you depend on a system of primogeniture and inheritance, you have to accept it when it doesn’t work for you, as well as when it does. It’s not fair for him to take this out on you.’ He was gripping Nicky’s arm too hard, he realised, but he didn’t want to let go altogether because he could feel Nicky’s misery dripping through his defences.
He released his grip and shifted his hand up, skimming Nicky’s bruised wrist, clasping his hand. Nicky was very still for a second, then his other hand came up, covering Jem’s.
‘You deserve better than this,’ Jem said, softly, urgently. ‘It’s not right. I know he’s your friend, I know you care for him, Nicky, but I wish?—’
‘You wish what?’ Nicky’s voice was tight, and his hands were tight too, holding on. Jem could feel the gentle pulse of blood. He wasn’t quite sure what he should say, what he was permitted to say out loud.
